Alleged Indian Mujahideen member Afzal Usmani, who gave police the slip from court premises in September and was recaptured subsequently, has claimed in a letter to the court that he had not fled, but had been taken away by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad officials.

Usmani submitted this letter to the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court here on December 10, when the charges were framed against him and other 22 men in connection with e-mails purportedly sent by IM taking responsibility for blasts in Delhi and Hyderabad in 2008.